1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which ultrasonic waves are transmitted into the subject to obtain received signals through receiving the ultrasonic waves reflected within the subject, thereby displaying an image based on the received signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, there has been used an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which ultrasonic waves are transmitted toward the subject, especially a living body, ultrasonic waves reflecting from a tissue within the living body are received to generate received signals, and a tomographic image of the living body is displayed on the basis of the received signals, thereby facilitating a diagnostic of diseases of the viscus inner organ or the like in the living body.
FIG. 7 is a typical illustration showing the state of operations of an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus.
Usually, an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus is arranged, for the convenience of handling, in such a manner that a probe 2 is connected to a main body 1 when it is used. As shown in FIG. 7, an operator 3 puts a tip portion 2a of the probe 2 upon the subject 4, and controls a position and an angle of the tip portion 2a. The tip portion 2a incorporates thereinto an ultrasonic probe (not illustrated) for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves. The ultrasonic probe transmits ultrasonic waves toward the inside of the subject 4 and receives the ultrasonic waves reflected within the subject 4. The received signals thus received are fed through a cable 2b of the probe 2 and a connector 2c for connecting the probe 2 with the main body 1 to the main body 1.
Inside the main body 1, the received signals are subjected to a processing according to an operation and the like of an operation panel 80 by the operator 3, so that a tomographic image within the subject 4 is displayed, based on the processed received signals, on a display screen 70a of a display unit 70.
In the display of tomographic images on the display screen 70a, it may be difficult to see which diagnostic site or internal organ of the subject 4 is displayed and from which position and direction is the subject 4 irradiated with ultrasonic waves to obtain the tomographic image. Thus, there is an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus in which a body mark indicating as to which diagnostic site or internal organ of the subject 4 is a diagnostic object through making a design thereof, and a probe mark indicating a relative position relation between the diagnostic site or internal organ and the tip portion 2a of the probe 2 are able to be displayed through an operation of the operation panel 80 by the operator 3.
A display of the body mark and the probe mark together with the tomographic image within the subject 4 makes it possible to provide a display easy to see as to how and upon which diagnostic site or internal organs the tip portion 2a of the probe 2 is put. However, it will be difficult for a beginner to discriminate among a normal image indicating that the tomographic image thus obtained involves no lesion or diseases, an abnormal image indicating that the tomographic image involves lesion or diseases, and an abnormal image indicating as to what lesion or diseases the tomographic image is involved in. Thus, it is necessary for an operator to refer to, for example diagnostic cases collecting the related photographs. This involves such a problem that it takes much times for determination as to whether the tomographic image displayed on the display screen is good or bad.